Antiquiera's decision to lead probe on plaint vs PFMC questioned
His overeagerness to prove to everyone he can effectively handle the chairmanship of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Public Services, Environmental Protection and Ecology after wresting it away from longtime chairperson Iloilo City Councilor Perla Zulueta could well lead neophyte Kagawad Eldrid Antiquiera to big, big trouble.
In last Wednesday's session, he presented to the body a letter sent to him by one Teodoro Salem of Brgy. Progreso, Lapuz, this city urging the city council to take action on his complaint against Philippine Foremost Milling Corp. (PFMC), located in the same barangay, which he said had been emitting foul odor hazardous to the health of residents in the area.
He claimed in the letter that as a result of the pollution that PFMC's operation is allegedly causing, he had contracted a lung disease that necessitated his use of a nebulizer to help him breathe. He said he also incurred additional expenses for other needed medication.
What earned the ire of Zulueta was when Salem alleged in the letter that he had earlier complained to her and former councilor Rita Bascos-Sarabia, the previous chairpersons of the said committee, regarding the matter but that the two "didn't give it any attention."
Zulueta, dubbed the "Iron Lady of the City Council," pointed out that she doesn't know anyone by the name of Teodoro Salem and that she can't remember receiving any letter, much more a complaint against PFMC, from him.
"In fact, if we are to examine his letter way back in 2001, we can see at the bottom portion that copies were furnished to several persons but nowhere was my name mentioned as one of the recipients, or Councilor Sarabia for that matter. Anyway, if he has complaints against PFMC, which incidentally had been in operation long before I joined the city council, he should direct it to the DENR, which issued the Environmental Compliance Certificate to the said feedmill plant. He is barking up the wrong tree," Zulueta further quipped.
No delicadeza
The matter, however, made a turn for the worse--at least for Antiquiera--when he moved to have the matter referred to his committee for study, reports and recommendation, saying he would look into the merits of the complaint and recommend appropriate action for or against PFMC.
It was then that Zulueta stood to ask Antiquiera if it's true that he is the counsel of PFMC, to which the latter answered yes.
In an interview after the session, Antiquiera defended his decision to lead the investigation on Salem's complaint against PFMC, assuring fairness to both parties. "If I am partial to anyone, I would not have presented to the body this issue knowing that the one being complained against is a client of the law office to which I belong."
There are those, however, who believe he is better advised to just inhibit himself from investigating the case.
"If he has any sense of delicadeza left, he should immediately inhibit himself from the investigation because there exists conflict of interest here. No one would believe he would be completely impartial, given that he had been lawyering for PFMC for quite some time now," a City Hall observer averred.
"If his intention in insisting on leading this investigation is to prove to everyone that he can do better than Zulueta as chairman of the committee on environmental protection, then he would only be digging his own political grave. It's one of those damn if you do, damn if you don't things. The best way out of this for him is to just delegate the handling of the said case to his committee vice-chairperson in order to avoid creating any trouble for himself," said the same source.